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Nature-Symphony 47 (Enchanting dark-forest glade) — The general hum of flies in a woodland clearing (mostly hoverflies) opens this work, commencing a sustained tone — a drone, if you like — that feels immensely meaningful and continues throughout, acting like a self-generating dynamo of tension and creativity. A small bamboo chime in three layers suggests the constant dancing patterns of sun-flecks in the shadow of the dark forest trees — perhaps even little dancing swarms of inoffensive little 'gnats' (i.e., small nematocerous flies — see https://www.amentsoc.org/insects/fact-files/orders/diptera-nematocera.html), and pretty clearly the duo of metal chimes (the same recording as used for Nature-Symphony 45, but implemented a bit differently this time) are lurking in the deep shade, where unknown animal (and other?) eyes suspiciously peer out at us.
I wasn't thinking at all of using a hum-of-flies recording here, but was aware again of a seemingly very meaningful gentle sustained low tone that's often generated by the The Blues chime use here, and it suddenly dawned on me that perhaps I could use a background hum of flies, suitably adjusted in pitch, to reinforce that tone and extend it right through the work. I'd achieved a beautiful and musically potent effect in my Symphony 4 (Highland Wilderness) (https://www.philipgoddard-music.co.uk/sym4.htm ) by using a sustained low tone. Indeed, as in that symphony, the low tone often produces or at least emphasizes the interval of a minor 7th, which I regard not so much as a dissonance as a potent stimulator of musical creativity — at least in any context where I myself would use it.
In the event the flies in the chosen recording (https://freesound.org/people/Philip_Goddard/sounds/693086/ ) turned out to be the right pitch apart from being an octave higher, so I made a second, half-speed, layer of that, which was an octave lower in pitch. Thus the work opens with the hum sounding in the octave, but then the emphasis between higher and lower varies somewhat during the work, but finishing squarely on the natural, higher, version.
Bafflement corner :-)
You may notice various sounds at times throughout, that suggest that somebody or an animal was doing things or just lurking around and indeed fidgeting close to the recorder on the left. — The sordid truth is that there was no-one and no large-enough animal anywhere near enough to be heard there. True, I sat for some time on a mossy log to eat my packed lunch, but that was at least 10 metres away on that side. Later on I did get up to take a brief stroll, but I went the other way. The recorder might have picked up the odd faint sound from me starting out and returning from that little stroll, but that couldn't possibly account for the very close sounds like somebody standing rather fidgetily right beside the recorder on the dead leaves and small twigs there.
Chimes used:
(layers 1+2)
1. Davis Blanchard Debussy Bells (8 tubes, tuned to the whole-tone scale, spread over two octaves)
2. Davis Blanchard The Blues (8 tubes, tuned to a laid-back sounding Blues scale)
(Layers 3–5)
3. Indonesian bamboo chime, small (longest tube c. 30cm) (notionally tuned roughly to whole-tone scale but sounding a completely different note sequence in Layer 5, where it's an octave lower than original)
The woodland flies recording is in two layers.
I made the original metal chimes recording on 26 April 2018 (https://freesound.org/people/Philip_Goddard/sounds/682791/ ), on rough steep ground just below Hunting Gate, highest point on the Hunter's Path, Teign Gorge, Drewsteignton, Devon, UK. The bamboo chime recording dates from 11 December 2023, on Piddledown, a little above the Hunter's Path. The hum-of-flies recording dates from 28 June 2023, on the Lower Deer Stalker's Path, close to the steep Cranbrook Down byway track, high above Fingle Bridge, also in the Teign Gorge. Geolocation is for the metal chimes.
Advisory
To get the best out of this, with its mass of detail, listen with high-grade headphones.
The previous (24 June) recording in progress, with arrow showing where the recorder was placed this time. As already noted, the recorder was pointing over the valley (to left in this view), and upwards at about 30° angle.
Two Davis Blanchard chimes being recorded in a previous session at the same spot.
Techie stuff:
Recorder for all recordings was a Sony PCM-D100, with two nested custom Windcut furry windshields, and it was placed on a Zipshot Mini tripod (metal chimes), an Aoka carbon-fibre mini tripod (bamboo chime), and a Sirui carbon-fibre tripod (flies).
Post-recording processing was to apply EQ in Audacity to correct for the muffling effect of the windshields.
(Metal chimes)
Layer 1: half-speed, giving an octave pitch reduction below original; acoustic: middling foreground in cathedral;
Layer 2: Speed to give pitch reduction of an octave, then further pitch reduction to give total reduction of an octave plus minor seventh; acoustic: a very minimal cathedral reverb.
(bamboo chimes)
Layer 3: original speed; acoustic: moderate back of cathedral; acoustic: moderate back of cathedral
Layer 4: Speed reduction to produce pitch a tritone below original; acoustic: moderate back of cathedral
Layer 5: Speed reduction to produce pitch a tritone below original, then further pitch reduction to give total an octave below original; acoustic: moderate back of cathedral
(Flies)
Layer 6: Unchanged original
Layer 7: Half-speed, giving pitch an octave below original; no other processing.
Please remember to give this recording a rating — Thank you!
This recording can be used free of charge, provided that it's not part of a materially profit-making project, and it is properly and clearly attributed. The attribution must give my name (Philip Goddard) and link to https://freesound.org/people/Philip_Goddard/sounds/731200/
Type
Flac (.flac)
Duration
49:20.929
File size
295.0 MB
Sample rate
44100.0 Hz
Bit depth
16 bit
Channels
Stereo